Red and Blue
by Nyneve
Summary: With the stress of her job and her partner pushing her to the brink of a nervous breakdown, Kiyone teeters on the edge of her sanity. The one thing that can save her? A bounty hunter by the name of Gene Starwind...


* * *

I Own Nothing. WARNINGS: Language, Alcohol Abuse, Lime stuff (not quite lemon, but not for younger readers)

Red and Blue

"Mm…"

Kiyone Makibi rolled her eyes and took another sip of coffee as she stared at the report screen in front of her.

"Mmm…this is so good!"

She clenched her teeth momentarily, then let out a deep exhale.

"Please…I've gotta have another…"

"Fuck stress relief! MIHOSHI WAKE UP!" Kiyone screamed into the ear of her nearly comatose partner.

The ditsy blond Mihoshi Kuramitsu yawned and stretched. "Wha? Kiyone, did you say something?"

Struggling to keep from strangling the woman, Kiyone sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. The stress of her job, or rather, Mihoshi, was getting to her more and more. No matter what she did, she couldn't escape. Something was always right there, demanding her time and attention. It was getting to be too much.

Like that beeping. Where the hell was it coming from? It was getting annoying.

"Uh…Kiyone? Remind me again what the little blue box is?" Mihoshi asked.

Kiyone opened her eyes. "Little blue box?"

"Uh-huh. Right there," Mihoshi touched the screen in the console slightly. The little blue box expanded and displayed the scarred face of a smiling red haired man.

"Anyone awake there?" he asked.

Mihoshi's face brightened. "Gene! Kiyone, it's Gene!"

Kiyone groaned. Gene Starwind. That damn bounty hunter. Now what did he want?

"Nice to hear from you too, Kiyone," he commented.

She sighed. "What is it that you wanted, Starwind?"

"Got a bounty for ya. "Mikael the Bandit." I was going to bring him to the GP headquarters, but when I saw you in the area, I thought I'd leave him with you," Gene explained.

"Sorry, but we're not authorized to handle bounties," Kiyone answered.

"Aw come on, Kiyone. Just as a favor?" he asked.

"No!"

"Mihoshi? Can't you talk to her?"

The blond looked at Kiyone. "He's asking nicely."

"No, Mihoshi."

"I'll take you out for dinner," Gene offered.

Kiyone barked out a laugh. "Yeah, right."

He sighed. "Come on, Kiyone. For old time's sake? I swear to god I'll never ask you for this again. I won't even come _near_ you."

Now _that_ offer was tempting. "You swear?"

"By god, Satan, and my mother's grave."

"Oh…fine. Where are you now?" she asked, hating herself for giving into him.

"Just outside the orbit of Lithela. You?"

"We left the Sol system a few hours ago. I'll send you a rendezvous point. We should be able to meet in about three hours," Kiyone replied.

"Okay, sounds good. Thanks a _ton_ Kiyone. I know that Satori works with the bounties these days and well…" he trailed off.

Kiyone rubbed her temples. "You don't want to face her on account of your cheating on her."

"Yeah," he smiled sheepishly.

She shrugged. "Nothing for me to worry about. I hate the little bitch."

Gene laughed. "Good to hear from you again, Kiyo. I'll see you in a bit then." His image shrunk down to the blue box, then vanished.

Kiyone groaned and took a deep drink of coffee. Maybe it was time for her to start thinking about taking up those acupuncture sessions again.

* * *

"Hey, I think I see them!" Jim Hawking remarked as the image of Yagami became visible on the radar.

"Who is this we're meeting with again?" Aisha Clan-Clan asked, leaning back and resting her head against her arms.

"Kiyone and Mihoshi. Old friends in the Galaxy Police," Gene answered. "And before you ask, Suzuka, no they are nothing like Fred Lowe."

Suzuka said nothing and took a sip of tea.

"Yeah, Mihoshi's nuts but at least she doesn't hit on you Gene," Jim remarked.

"Oh shut up," he snapped, then sent a transmission. "Hey."

Kiyone's voice came back sounding irritated. "Okay Starwind, let's get this over as quickly as possible."

"You said they were your friends?" Suzuka asked amusedly.

"Oooh…wow Gene your ship is totally awesome!" Mihoshi's voice cried.

Gene smiled. "Yeah, I know. Come on over and have a look. Melfina, can you hook us up?"

"Commencing passage link," the girl in the tank replied.

A few minutes later, two women entered through the hatch into the bridge.

"Hi Gene!" Mihoshi cried, throwing her arms around him and hugging him affectionately. She proceeded to do the same to Jim. "It's been such a long time!"

"Not long enough," muttered Kiyone. Gene grinned at her and threw his arm around her. She promptly shrugged it off.

"Don't touch me," she said.

"So…who is everyone else here?" Mihoshi asked, looking at the three other females in the bridge.

"Oh, yeah. Mihoshi, Kiyone, this is Aisha Clan-Clan, Twilight Suzuka, and Melfina. Guys, this is Detective First Class Mihoshi Kuramitsu and Detective First Class Kiyone Makibi."

Aisha shook Mihoshi's hand vigorously. "Nice meeting you!"

Everyone winced as they heard bones crack.

"Melfina's a little busy right now," Jim explained, pointing to the tank.

"Ooooh…" Mihoshi murmured in awe, forgetting about the throbbing in her hand.

Kiyone calmly positioned herself between her partner and the delicate equipment. "So then Starwind, where's Mikael?"

"Oh, here, I'll get him for you. Hope you don't mind a little dead weight. I don't think he's conscious yet," he said, disappearing down a corridor into the cabin. Sure enough, he emerged with a man on his shoulder. "Come on, I'll help take him over to Yagami."

"Whatever," Kiyone said, heading back towards the passageway to her own ship. "Mihoshi, stay here for a few minutes."

The two managed to get the man into a small restraining cell near the bridge of the GP vessel. After handcuffing him to a bar in the corner of it, they closed the door and locked it.

"Well, that's taken care of. I'll just get Mihoshi and then you can go," Kiyone said.

"Already?" Gene asked.

She turned around and stared at him incredulously. "Uh, yeah. Remember? You swore to god, Satan, and your mother's grave that you would never come near me afterwards."

"Yeah, but I was hoping you'd change your mind," he remarked.

"Why the hell would I do that?" Kiyone asked.

Gene folded his arms and leaned against one of the seats of the cockpit. "Christ Kiyo…when did you become such a bitch?"

She laughed. "When did I become a bitch? When I—"

There was a sudden explosion that cut her off.

"What the hell was that?" Gene asked.

Kiyone didn't answer, but sat down in her seat and scanned the area. "Shit…"

"What?"

"Pirates"

"Are you serious? What the hell are they doing all the way out here? This is open territory!"

An idea popped into Kiyone's head, and she slowly turned to face Gene. "Starwind…did you check the bounty for any tracking devices?"

"I…uh, no."

"What the fuck were you thinking?" she yelled.

"What would he have been doing with a tracking device?"

"Oh don't give me that shit. You're infamous among every space pirate out here. They'd probably do anything to kill you. Including set up a false bounty."

Suddenly, little blue screen returned. "Gene? What is it?" Jim asked, as Kiyone activated it.

"Pirates. Listen, you guys get out of here. The Outlaw Star is faster, but Yagami is easier to maneuver. I'll let the pirates know I'm here and we'll draw their attention away."

"Like hell you will…" Kiyone began.

"You want them to fire at the Outlaw Star? Mihoshi's over there," Gene pointed out.

"I…" she paused and glared at him, then started powering up the engine. "Hate you with a passion."

"Yeah, I know," he replied, sitting in the seat next to her.

"Wait Gene! Where do you want to meet up?" Jim asked.

"Don't worry about it! I'll contact Mihoshi when we lose these guys," Kiyone said, cutting off the transmission. She immediately sent another one to one of the five ships that had appeared on her scanner.

"Attention! This is the Galaxy Police Patrol Cruiser Yagami. This is First Class Detective Kiyone Makibi speaking," she announced.

No visual came back, but she did get an audio reply. "Stay out of this, woman," a coded voice said.

"Hey," Gene snapped. "I'm on Yagami you bastards. Come and get me."

"I hate you," Kiyone repeated as the cruiser lunged forwards and veered to the left.

"What kind of armaments you got on this thing?" Gene asked as they picked up speed. Sure enough, four of the five ships had abandoned the Outlaw Star (although Jim was taking care of the straggler) and were now pursuing Yagami.

"Two energy cannons, a couple dozen homing missiles, and if worse comes to worse, we blow the battery and obliterate everything in a fifty thousand mile radius, including ourselves," she answered.

"Hm…okay, we're going to have to be creative. You handle the piloting, I'll handle the shooting, okay?" he suggested.

"Yeah, just remember whose ship it is cowboy," Kiyone snapped. "Okay, we've got on one coming up on the left. I'd start getting creative if I were you."

"Right," Gene agreed. He fired the energy cannon a few times, but didn't hit anything vital. Wishing the cruiser had the grappler arms he'd grown accustomed to, he let loose a few homing missiles. That did the trick, considering the missiles were each the size of a small shuttle.

"Not bad, eh?" he grinned.

Kiyone rolled her eyes, then noticed something up ahead and got an idea.

"Hold on," she said, and the speed increased. A minute later, they were deep in the midst of an asteroid field.

"All right Kiyo!" Gene commented as the ships attempted to follow them. However, Yagami was just too agile. Gene easily took down two ships with the energy cannons, and the third destroyed itself by flying into an asteroid.

Kiyone breathed a sigh of relief and carefully moved out of the asteroid field. Once out, she cut power and leaned back in the seat panting.

"Well…that was fun," Gene commented.

She stared at the ceiling. "Yeah…fun…"

He raised his eyebrows. "Uh, Kiyo? Why don't you take a break? I'll go check on the bounty for you."

"Whatever," Kiyone said.

But when Gene opened the door of the holding cell, he saw that the bar Mikael the Bandit had been handcuffed to was broken, and that he now lay hanging from where it bent upwards with a cord around his neck.

"Oh great," he muttered, then went back out to the bridge.

"Uh, Kiyone? We've got a problem," he said.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Mikael hung himself," Gene answered.

Kiyone didn't say anything, but slowly stood and went to the holding cell to see for herself. Once the information was confirmed, she began banging her head against the wall repeatedly.

"Whoa…uh, Kiyo? I think you should stop that…" Gene said, pulling her away. He led her to the seat, then took the controls. "It is clear to me your are in serious need of a drink. Lucky for you, I happen to know there's a good bar only an hour or two away from here."

With that, they took off.

* * *

Kiyone's sanity reappeared when she found herself outside a little tavern. Blinking, she looked around confusedly.

"Where the hell are we?" she asked.

"Charon," Gene answered shortly, opening the door. When Kiyone didn't move, he raised an eyebrow. "Well? You coming or not?"

"Ah…no," she replied. "Do you know what would happen if my boss caught me drinking?"

"Do you know what would happen if you loosened up and forgot about work for five minutes?" Gene asked, matching her tone.

"It's not really your business…" she began, but stopped when he touched her shoulder.

"Come on Kiyo. Just have a drink with me. I owe you one, and you owe it to yourself to just unwind a bit. You know," he paused. "Just relax, like you used to."

She was silent, then rubbed her temples. "Let's see…my partner's missing, I'm on Charon with a bounty hunter, there's a dead man in my ship…" She shook her head and smiled. "What the hell? One drink."

"I knew I could talk you into it," Gene grinned, holding the door open for her.

They took a seat at the bar. Gene ordered two drinks (Kiyone had no idea what they were), and looked at her.

"So…what've you been up to?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Same old stuff. Still with Mihoshi, still living on Earth, still can't get a promotion."

"I can see why you're stressed," Gene replied. "Mihoshi can give anyone a headache after a while. Can't help but love her though, huh?"

"Yeah, she's one of a kind," Kiyone admitted. "So how about your little crew? Where'd you come by them?"

"Well, you know Jim. Can't get rid of that kid," he joked. "We found Melfina a while back when we got the Outlaw Star. Then from there Aisha and Suzuka found us."

"Let me guess, they wanted to kill you?"

"Yeah," he said as the drinks arrived. He clicked his glass against Kiyone's. "Here's to all the women that want me dead."

She smiled slightly and took a drink. Her eyes widened as the spicy hot liquid burned its way down her throat into her stomach. "What _was_ that shit?" she sputtered, nearly dropping the glass.

"Trust me Kiyo, you _don't_ want to know. But the more you drink it the less it hurts," Gene answered. "And once you're good and drunk you barely notice it."

"Hm. We'll see," she said, taking another drink against her better judgment. "Hey, you're right. It does hurt less."

"Really?" Gene asked, a look of surprise on his face.

"No, but I'll live," she answered, smiling.

They drank and talked a while more, letting the alcohol warm their blood and cloud their minds. Then Kiyone brought up an interesting point.

"You know, I don't think I've gotten drunk once in the last five years," she commented.

"Are you serious?" he blinked in surprise. Even when he was sober, it was hard for him to contemplate anyone _not_ getting drunk two or three times a week.

"Dead serious," she answered. "That bastard would've fired me."

Gene assumed "that bastard" was the head of GP.

"But you know what?" Kiyone continued in her slurred speech. "I don't care anymore. I just…I…it doesn't matter. This is a hell of a lot better than a nervous breakdown. Thanks, Gene."

Her last words sobered him up very quickly.

"What did you say?" he cried incredulously.

"I said thanks," Kiyone replied. "You're not that bad of a guy, you know?"

He smiled. "You must be _really_ drunk to be saying things like that."

"I guess so. And you know what else?" she said, leaning towards him. "I'm starting to think you're attractive. Maybe I've had enough?"

"Ah, one more won't hurt," Gene said, flattered that the irritable but beautiful woman was saying such things in her drunkenness.

"No, no it won't," Kiyone agreed as he ordered another drink. She was enjoying this. The absence of tension, of worry, of thought in general was relaxing. Not to mention that Gene had suddenly gone from being an annoying pain in the ass to a sexy bounty hunter who was kind enough to buy all the drinks. And she must've had a good three or four of those things…

"What do you meant no more?" Gene cried, outraged. Kiyone was dimly aware of the bartender saying they'd both had too much for either of them, and that it was time for Gene to take his girlfriend home.

"I'm not…ah, whatever," she muttered as she staggered to her feet.

"Let's go, Kiyo," Gene said, slipping an arm about her shoulders, not only to support her, but himself.

The two wandered down the street in an alcohol-induced fog, clinging to each other to keep from falling to their knees. Somehow, they made it back to Yagami. Completely ignoring the dead body of Mikael the Bandit, they staggered into Kiyone's cabin and collapsed on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Hey, Kiyo?" Gene asked, absentmindedly stroking her hair.

"Mm?" she murmured.

"Did you mean it when you said you found me attractive?"

She grinned, then rolled on top of him and kissed his lips. When she pulled away, she giggled. "Does that answer the question?"

"Yeah, pretty much," he replied.

"Okay good," she answered, then pulled off his shirt and started kissing her way down his neck. He blinked in surprise, then smiled in pleasure as he wound his fingers in her hair.

Kiyone ran her hands over the stars on his arms, then paused when she touched his shoulder marked with the tattoo of a red star.

"I remember this…" she murmured, caressing it tenderly.

Gene smiled. "You should. You were the one that told me to get it. And if I remember correctly…" He removed her white sweatshirt and revealed the similar blue star on her collarbone. "I thought you had it removed."

"I thought about it, but decided not to," she answered.

"I'm glad you didn't," Gene commented, rolling her over and pressing his lips against it. Kiyone was dully aware of him removing her bra and sliding his mouth to her breasts as he stripped her of her remaining clothes. She did the same for him, and from there the two gave into their bodies' blind passions in the night.

* * *

Gene awoke to a nerve-searing pain in his head and groaned. He knew he should be trying to remember where he was and what had happened, but the sleeping woman lying next to him did that for him.

"Shit…" he muttered, though the sound of his voice increased the pain. Why the hell did he have to go and get drunk and then sleep with Kiyone? True, he would've done the same thing given the opportunity even if he was sober, but now he was going to have to deal with the hangover too. Not to mention that it was going to get worse when Kiyone awoke and started hating him again, which would be very easy if her hangover was as bad as his.

Was it worth it?  
Oh yes.

Kiyone moaned and opened her eyes. "Oh God…now I remember why I don't drink anymore…"

She rolled over to face Gene, who smiled sheepishly. "Morning."

"Ugh…" she muttered, sitting up and holding the sheets around her. "I thought it was a dream."

"Sorry," Gene replied, relieved that she wasn't screaming. Of course, she didn't exactly appear fit to scream at the moment. He watched her dress and leave the cabin in search of coffee. About a half an hour later, she returned, still looking miserable but at least awake.

"Get up," she ordered, throwing his clothes at him.

"Give me five more minutes," he begged.

She glared at him murderously, and he hastily got out of bed and dressed, which made his stomach churn.

"The bathroom's back in there," she pointed in the direction of the engine room. He ran like hell for it.

Sighing, she made the bed and sat down on it. She faintly remembered the night before. She remembered talking at the bar, but the topics eluded her. She remembered coming back to the ship. She vaguely remembered showing him her tattoo. Then she woke up next to him naked. Putting two and two together, she prayed that at least she wouldn't get pregnant.

When Gene staggered out of the bathroom, she poured him a cup of coffee, which he thankfully accepted.

"So…do you hate me again?" he ventured.

She shrugged. "A little bit. Just the hangover talking most likely."

"Do you regret it?"

"Getting drunk or sleeping with you?"

"Both."

"Getting drunk, yes. Sleeping with you…" she trailed off. "Not the first time I've done it."

"Is it the last?" Gene asked.

"Stop asking me so many questions. I don't want to think right now," she snapped.

He smiled weakly. "All right, all right," he took a drink of the coffee. "For a while there, you were your old self again."

"Getting nostalgic Starwind?" she said.

"Maybe a little. Anyways…" he went to the holding cell where Mikael was starting to smell. "Listen, I'll take care of this guy for you. You're going to have enough to explain to your boss."

"Thanks," Kiyone replied.

"Huh. You even say it when you're sober."

"Don't push your luck, Starwind."

"Right, right. Sorry," he said, then bent over and kissed her cheek. "It was good to see you again, Kiyo. I'll meet up with Jim and we'll send Mihoshi back to the GP Headquarters where she belongs, all right?"

"Okay," she said, touching the star tattoo on his shoulder. "Um…I'll call you?"

Gene smiled, then touched the tattoo on her collarbone. "You do that, Kiyo. You do that."

_Fine_


End file.
